Archive for the ‘House and Farm’ Category

I am a bit under the weather with a cold, out the window the leaves are popping red and orange. Here in the studio I am getting ready for craft fairs. Working out new patterns.

I always hope to make more than I possible can, my head is reeling with ideas. Alas there are only so many hours in a day and a girl with a cold must have a bit of rest (while stitching up little dolls like mad).

Do you have have any little tricks that make you feel like you accomplished a ton in a really short amount of time. You know the little things that made you feel all rock star with like zero effort? Dropping off 5 trash bags of clothes at the Salvation Army for instance makes me feel like doing a back flip and only takes a few minutes.

After a couple years of backlog I finally ordered REAL PRINTED photos!! As in tangible objects I can hold in my hands and flip through longingly perusing my children’s sticky fingered little moments. And man did it feel good! I felt like super mom looking through at all the 3.5 million photo’s.

Time spent, 15 minutes

Payback, HUGE - It felt like a truckload of love came to the freekin door.

Oh, and I actually rather like untraditional type photographs of families and children. Shots where you see more or less than the standard smiling show of perfection, maybe even just a mood. Sometimes I worry that with the ease of digital cameras we might loose the very pictures that in time would facinate us the most. The shot above was our last day of Summer swimming at the town beach, we thought all our friends would be there but instead it was pretty quiet, we kept talking about how it was a “good-bye to Summer day”. It really felt like the end of a great Summer.

We harvested 20 plus pounds of potatoes from the garden, made a beach at the lake, swam till we could swim no more, and started “real school”.

The grown up folk did some major agonizing about what, where and when in the education department so hearing daily proclamations of “I LOVE my SCHOOL” and watching the littles skip to class through lush gardens with big ol’ smiles on their faces has been pretty epic. Cue Parents high fiving.

I have actually had a few days to work in my studio and started with a flurry of projects and hope to visit here with more gusto as my life hits some semblance of rhythm.

Ha! That is before everyone starts getting colds and the sprouts go and change their minds about the whole liking school thing!

In the mean time I am continuing with my latest house mission, I call it – DOWN WITH BROWN. That’s right brown, I have you in my sights and I am coming after you!

The nights have a long sleeve sort of chill, the lake seems optional not essential as it did in the blaze of Summer.

Things are starting to shift to Fall. I feel like a frantic squirrel gathering nuts for winter. Yeah, I just said WINTER and it’s only September. But, whoosh, it will be here before you know it! Or least the mittens and jackets and boots that plauge my tiny house will. Truth be told it’s not just the seasons guiding my need to whip things into shape around here…

Something about sending my boys off the “real” school for the first time is throwing me into a cleaning and organizing furry that even sleeping will not stop. I am dreaming of sorting through clothes and reorganizing!! I have scrubbed nooks and crannies with a tooth brush. Can you say, “anxiety cleaning”. I feel like the whole Summer has been building towards this moment —- Kindergarten!

So how do I deal with my somewhat mixed emotions of my twin boys going off to Kindergarten, growing up, going to school.

Apparently I go out to the barn and build the rustic wall storage bins I saw on Pinterest.

So, here is my new mitten, hat and boot station for my big school boys. Here’s to hoping they can find all that winter detritus by themselves – hahaha.

Things I like about this project -

I love the weathered grey stain made with black tea and vinegar. Tutorial here. Non toxic so the kids could help me apply it. Very cool.

I love that I could use a lot of recycled wood making the project cheaper. I even used some wood from an old pallet.

It took me quite a few tries to decipher how to map out the measurements out the angled cuts. In the end it was super easy to do, critical seeing as I don’t really know how to build furniture.

Now, on the hunt for a coat hook for hanging backpacks, crushing on this one.

Oh and wishing I had a wide angle lens for my camera because these are pretty much horrendous photos, but how does one take pictures of the nooks and crannies of their houses…. it’s HARD!

Our house at 1,500 square feet works for the four of us but with guests it can get tight. Plus, guests like to sleep late and take naps. The children are usually so excited to have guests they wake in the wee hours of the morning to jump on sleeping visitors faces with pure love (far too much love for 5 am, love)!

The solution for us, turn garden shed into Tiny Guest House.

I am so tickled with how the project turned out!

I love reading to the boys out there in the afternoons. Something about being in a little Summer Garden House makes me feel so relaxed and peaceful.

He’s all machine stitched with felt, cotton, silk and cashmere fabric scraps. The kids are pretty floored by him but I dare say a bit scared too! I myself am pretty floored that after a year of thinking about this project I can now put it out of my head and onto the walls.

Also up on the wall my little Amy Butler banner, some tiny thrifted paintings and a silly Green monster I made from a log slice. Perhaps one of these days I will get a better shot of how this newly done up kids room is coming together – someday..

Ahoy!

I’m Zoe Megan Johnson—mother, wife, artist, crafter extraordinaire. When I’m not flexing my super powers or navigating the treacherous waters of life while managing twin temper tantrums I can be found crafting the night away in my lovely studio high in the hills of Western Massachusetts.